Sunday, May 24, 2015

More doom and gloom predictions for Canada’s “oil patch” suggest there
could be up to 185,000 job losses this year.

A
report by Enform’s labor market division said the potential losses would amount
to a 25-percent drop in the number of jobs due to budget cuts in the oil and
gas industry.

Hardest hit would be resource-rich Alberta where the oil-price collapse
darkens the economic fortunes in Calgary and Edmonton.

The
Conference Board of Canada forecasts the two biggest cities will fall into
recession this year.

“The energy sectors in both cities will decline, but other sectors will
also feel the pinch from lower oil prices including construction,
transportation, warehousing and wholesale and retail trade,” the board said.

It
predicted that benchmark West Texas Intermediate crude oil will average $56
U.S. a barrel this year and $69 in 2016 – down from $102 a year
ago.

Enform’s report said the industry is expected to spend $94 billion this
year, down from $125 billion last year.

The study said engineering construction firms are most vulnerable
followed by exploration and development drilling.

Friday, May 15, 2015

The election of a socialist government in Alberta could lead to big
changes in Canada’s oil patch and the future of oil pipeline projects.

Rachel Notley will take over as Premier with her New Democratic Party
after a decisive victory that ended 44 years of pro big oil and right-wing
Conservative rule.

Unlike previous Alberta premiers, Notley said she will let the political
events in the United States take their course without her government’s lobbying
for construction of the long-stalled $8-billion Keystone XL project.

Instead of sending Alberta oilsands crude and thousands of jobs to Texas
refineries with the building of the Keystone XL, Notley said she’d prefer to have
the oil processed instead in Canada.

On
the proposed Northern Gateway pipeline to ship oil to British Columbia seaports
for export, Notley said it’s so contentious with environmentalists and native
opposition that she won’t spend much time worrying about it.

Projects such as Energy East to ship oil from Alberta through existing
pipelines and an extension to the east coast “might” be supported, she said.

Saturday, May 2, 2015

The Ontario government is turning over a new leaf and getting tough with
contraband tobacco dealers who account for 40 percent of the cigarettes
consumed in the province.

Finance
Minister Charles Sousa said the illegal cigarette market amounts to $500
million annually and is a big part of the underground economy costing the
provincial government $15 billion a year in lost tax revenues.

In
his budget, Sousa said new measures in the past two years have recouped about $600
million in lost revenue from tax evaders.

Along with getting tough with those in the illegal cigarette market, the
government will go after corporate tax avoiders and cash, tax-free deals by
roofers and auto body shops, he said.

Contraband
smokes are sold on native reserves, in bars and out of car trunks for a
fraction of the $85 average retail price for a carton of 200 cigarettes.

The government is also requiring that tobacco farms and everyone who handles
the product must be registered.

Authorities say much of the contraband cigarettes have come from unlicensed
manufacturing plants in New York State supplemented by the growth of Ontario farms
selling tobacco to underground manufacturers.